DD is turning 6 soon, and loves to do "mechanical" building type things with me. We've got a few different sets (lego, Zoob & Gears), but I was wondering if anyone else has found any good toys to keep that spirit going. We've tried some wood models, but the ones we've tried are a little too difficult.

Also, any good "brain development" games out there? We love playing family games, plus the fun of tricking us all into learning while we do so!

I will presume his has his own tools? tool belt? safety glasses?real ones, not plastic, and is allowed wood & nails?Get him something from Ikea and let him put it together...by himself?

Legos are timeless and there is no number that is too many.-----------------------------------------------------------------I don't know about Brain Development - But I am a firm believer in jumping directly into a Game and completely skipping any *junior* versions (Monopoly, Scrabble, etc)

Although those are the standards, and not trendy, there are some Very Cool (if you are looking at gifts) Versions of all of these

Card GamesBridge is supposed to be one of the most difficult games to program, as far as the reasoning, and you only need one extra to have enough to playFluxx (any version) is ridiculous, but good for all agesMunchkins - if he can read- he can learn it, might have some mildly inappropriate material on the cards.

And- on a general *Christmas* note - Since i know you are just a few years younger than I -This is the 25th anniversary of The Princess Bride movie - a gift of the Book and DVD might be well received, as you mold his sense of humor.

Telescopes are always good for learning, as is a microscope, which has the added bonus of being able to turn into a family outing. As in, walk around the neighborhood and "Ooh, I wonder what THIS will look like?" <gather specimen>

We really enjoyed The Ladybug Game, though it's pretty simple for that age - probably more appropriate for a child just learning to count to 10.

This is the expensive set, but I bought four sets of the smaller set (around $50 apiece and my kids would still use more if we had them).

I bought these when DS1 was about three. He is turning 12 in December. He and his eight-year-old brother STILL build with these on a regular basis. They get used for almost everything.

They are expensive. They are worth every single penny I've ever paid for them and then some. They are among the very few toys (other than the Legos) that I will lovingly pack up, and save excitedly for any grandchildren I am lucky enough to have.

GSF

(No, I am in no way affiliated with or paid by the company that makes them. I just love, love, LOVE these toys).

I agree with tconi on the deductive/reasoning games. We as a family love them.

Cute story about my DD. My husband and I were active in the college bowl circuit in college. Many friends come from there. One friend had a board game night & invited the old gang back. One of the folks there was a winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

My 6 year old daughter skunked him in Battleship...which lead to much teasing. :)

She has some tools...trying to find a good set to complete for Christmas as well. She picked out her own tool box at Home Depot last weekend after we went to their "kids workshop".... Any suggestions on where to buy good small tools? I wasn't impressed with the "little hands" set online.

Great ideas on the microscope and circuit set. Where is a good place to buy a microscope?

iOS games:DragonBox - HIGHLY recommended. TEACHES ALGEBRA. After about an hour of play, my son was "solving for X". Of course, he didn't know that, but when I said "If Piglet brought twice as many cupcakes to Eeyore's party as Pooh, and together they brought 9 cupcakes, how many did Pooh bring" and he gives me 3...I'm just floored. (He was about 6 1/4 when he did this...in his head.) Maybe I'm just easily floored. ;)

I also use the Teach Me Kindergarten and First Grade ones

I actually have no problem with him playing Bad Piggies - it's science. He is studying the way the physics of the system works, creating, testing, and refining his hypothesis, over and over again. That's the scientific method.

He also LOVED Tozzle (a toddler's puzzle game) back in the day, but is too old for that now - although I do see him playing with it as a guilty pleasure once in a while. ;)

In general, if it seems to have some edifying feature to it, I'll let him play - and sometimes I'll let him play Treasures of Montezuma (a match-3 game like Bejewelled) as his treat. Nothing really educational about it, but he LOVES it.

For the Wii, we've also played Lego Harry Potter 1-4 together (together being the operative word - I wanted to be there to parent him about violence, beating people up, play vs. real, etc.), and Super Mario Galaxy (which has some fantastic puzzle solving in it), and we've also played Scooby Doo games on the Wii - but the one we played was SO flawed at times that I can't recommend it. There were parts that were so infuriatingly poorly designed that the only reason we got past it is because I'm a game designer myself, and I knew how they had built the level and how we could work around it. I think it was Scooby Doo First Frights. Maybe try a different Scooby Doo one?

It is a drag-and-drop scripting / programming tool specifically built for children! It gets them thinking in terms of algorithms, blocks, variables, etc. - and they don't even know it! Jayden can't WAIT to finish his homework so he can play Scratch and built us a little scene - it's like Legos...but you can make things move, react, dance, play sounds, bounce, change colors - it's amazing. Jayden watched the 5 video tutorials (recorded by other children, so very accessible!), and then just dove in by himself.